Beauty
by prettyinpinkgal
Summary: Sophie is tired of Howl's vain attitude, so she tries to teach him a lesson.


**Prettyinpinkgal: Hey! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Please R&R! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Howl's Moving Castle. Meh. **

**BEAUTY**

"SOPHIE!" a voice cried as a certain owner of a certain castle ran down the steps. The silver-haired Sophie looked up from her task of preparing lunch to see her beloved Howl with pink hair.

Sophie and Calcifer exchanged looks, and both began to crack up at the sight. Howl frowned.

"You both are horrible! Calcifer, were you behind this, too?" When Calcifer denied it, Howl cried to Sophie, "So you were the only culprit?"

"You're too vain for your own good! I thought if I mixed up the potions again, it would teach you a lesson." Sophie said indignantly.

"I feel green slime coming on..." Howl mumbled as he slumped into a chair near Calcifer. The ex-star and girl immediately looked alarmed.

"Alright, I'm sorry!" she cried. "You can turn it back to normal, can't you?"

Howl looked up at her. "Do you promise you won't mix up the potions again?"

"Yes, I promise! Now please don't start sliming over my clean floor!"

"Or on me!" Calcifer added.

Howl sighed. "Alright." With his hands on his head, he turned his pink hair back to black.

_He makes such a big fuss over something he can easily fix, _Sophie thought with a sigh as she went back to cooking. _I have to come up with something to make Howl become less consumed with looks. Something he can't fix with his powers... _An idea came to her, and she had to hide her smile. Oh, this was going to be fun!

* * *

"Morning!" Markl called the next day. The ex-Witch of the Waste was gazing at the fire and mumbled a hello, then said something about what a pretty fire Calcifer was. Heen wheezed a hello, then scurried over to his breakfast. 

"Where are Howl and Sophie?" Markl asked, noticing the absence of the couple.

Calcifer told him with a laugh, already understanding Sophie's plan. "Howl's begging Sophie to get out of the bathroom. She's been in there for an hour already!"

Unable to believe that the woman who was never in the bathroom for more than thirty minutes was still in the bathroom, Markl and the others went upstairs and peeked around the corner. There they saw Howl in all his bedheaded glory, pounding on the bathroom door.

"Come on, Sophie! I have to get in there!" Howl was shouting, looking dismayed.

"Come back in an hour or so," came Sophie's reply.

"But..."

"No buts! I have to look good too, you know!" Inside, Sophie snickered as she put on some makeup. This would definitely teach her beau a lesson!

* * *

An hour and a half later, Sophie came down the stairs. Howl threw his hands up and cried, "Finally!" and was about to go upstairs when he saw his girlfriend. She looked like those snobby girls from the palace. Gone was the quiet beauty that Sophie had; instead, she had a "Notice Me" look about her. While she didn't look _too_ bad, it just wasn't her. 

"What the heck did you do to yourself?" Howl asked, gaping as Calcifer cackled with laughter, flames shooting up through the chimney. Calcifer flew over to where Sophie stood in a fancy, expensive dress that she borrowed from her mother for the occasion.

"Nice outfit," he laughed. _By the end of today, Howl won't have a vain bone in his body! _the fire demon thought.

In reply to Howl's question, Sophie said, "What? I can't look beautiful?" With that, she sat down at the kitchen table and looked confused. "Where's breakfast?"

Howl forgot about getting his bath. "We were waiting for you to cook it!"

"How can I cook it?" Sophie whined. "I'll get my clothes dirty, and my hair will get ingredients in it!" You see, Sophie had used a potion that made her hair grow longer for the day.

"Then tie it up," Howl replied, running his fingers through his messy hair.

"And ruin the hair style? Never! Someone else must cook!"

"Not me! I have no idea how to cook!" Markl shouted immediately.

"I haven't cooked in years. I don't even remember how, dearies," the Witch of the Waste said.

"I have to heat up the food. I can't do anything else except for that," Calcifer replied.

Heen wheezed, which could be translated to, "Like heck I can cook!"

All eyes looked at Howl. He sighed. "Fine. I'll cook. But after I get my bath--"

"No! We're hungry now, Howl Jenkins!" Sophie said snobbily.

Howl scowled. "Fine!" He got out the bacon and other ingrediants and began to cook.

* * *

Howl sighed as he reached for the hair spells. He stopped, thought about Sophie's change, and thought better of it. He left the bathroom with his normal raven-black hair. 

"Oh, Hooowl."

_Drat! _he thought. This couldn't be good. He turned and saw Sophie. "Could you be a dear and clean for me, please?" she asked elegantly.

"Let me guess--you don't want to mess up your clothes..." Howl muttered.

"Exactly! Please do it, Howl!" Sophie gave him the sweetest look she could, and Howl found himself agreeing.

_Double drat._

* * *

"Calcifer, how did she get to be like this?" Howl whined to the fire demon as he swept away the soot from the fireplace. 

"I don't know," Calcifer said slyly.

"What do you know that you're not telling me?" Howl asked, catching on.

"Nothing. Oh, and there's still some soot in the back!" With that, the ex-star flew away. Obviously, Cal was enjoying this.

* * *

"How can Sophie deal with doing this so much?" Howl wondered out loud as he cleaned the bathroom, careful not to mix up his potions. The Witch of the Waste was sleeping--as usual--and Markl and Heen were playing in the backyard. Sophie was doing her nails. 

Finally having cleaned the whole castle, Howl stomped down the steps. "Sophie, can I talk to you?" he asked the girl, who was blowing her nails to make them dry.

"Alright." She followed him onto the balcony.

"Okay, Sophie, what the heck is going on? You've been acting like a...like a..."

"Like a female version of you?"

"Exactly! ...Wait, what?" Howl asked, bewildered.

By this time, Sophie was laughing. "I was giving you a taste of your own medicine! Now you see what the rest of us have to deal with!"

"I'm I really that bad?" he asked with a sigh. He pitied his friends if he was.

"Well, maybe I went a bit too far, but you get the idea."

"I'm so sorry," Howl groaned.

Sophie smiled. "I'm sorry too."

"How about this: Never make me clean the entire castle again, and I'll spend only two hours in the bathroom."

"Thirty minutes."

"One and a half hours."

"One hour."

"Deal." And they sealed their deal with a kiss.

**Prettyinpinkgal: Very random. I'm sorry I didn't get the personalities right. And it wasn't as funny as I intended it to be, but I hope you liked it nonetheless! Please review! Thank you:)**


End file.
